The Causality Alteration
by jedimasterathena
Summary: Sheldon is back at the beginning. After meeting Penny for the first time, again, he realizes he has entered a beta continuum and must work around the clock to get back where, or when, he belongs; but, things have changed in the past 5 years. SHENNY
1. The Thursday Abnormality

**The Causality Alteration**

**A Big Bang Theory Fanfiction**

**Alrighty, first Shenny, GET HYPE! **

It was a Thursday. It had started like any other Thursday. They had eaten pizza for dinner: Giaccomo's pizza with sausage, mushrooms, and light olives, as they had done every Thursday. Penny had joined them for dinner, as always. Sheldon sighed.

"Hey, guys," Penny strode through the door. To himself, Sheldon chatsized Leonard for not locking it after returning home. "Oooh, pizza!" She grabbed a slice and fell dramatically onto the couch beside Sheldon. His nostrils were insulted by the warm, suggary vanilla scent of her. He suppressed his gag relfex.

"Penny," Sheldon set down his pizza and turned to her, "May I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why are you here?"

"What?"

"Every evening you show up here in time to consume our food. Couple that with your less than independent Wi-Fi connectivity, your folksy Nebraska backwater charm, and feeble grasp of propper English, and there is absolutely no reason we should allow you into our home."

She pursed and popped her glossy lips. With a shake of her head and a lift of her eyebrows she replied, "Excuse me?"

"Well, like the_ Varanus albigularis_, or rock Monitor lizard, you act as an invasive species to the habitat which is our apartment." He waved one hand about the room, palm up.

Raj whispered to Howard through cupped palms, to which Wolowitz responded, "Yeah, and I wouldn't mind taking on such an exotic pet either." Penny scrunched her nose in disgust.

Sheldon continued his lecture, "I'm serious. Infact, Penny, you hold many characteristics of an invasive species. You survive off of a wide range of food types. For example, once, when your rent was late, you resorted to left-over cheesecake, Ramen noodles, and sink water. You possess Phenotype plasticity, altering your appearance to suit whatever occasion comes to hand, whether that be for your next date, girls' night, or menstral cramps. And obviously, with your persistant conjugal visits, rapid reproduction would surely not hinder your advances."

Penny did not say a word. Instead, she silently stood and trotted angrily out the door. How rash, thought Sheldon.

"Sheldon," Leonard exhaled, "go apologize."

"But, Leonard," Sheldon protested and his bespectacled friends glared at him. "Oh, alright," He quickly followed Penny into the hallway.

She opened the door to the apartment. He reached out to stop her.

"Please, Penny, allow me to to explain."

"No, Sheldon. For once in your life, don't lecture me." She clenched her fists at her side. "I'm not stupid. I get it. You don't want me around." Penny wrenched the door free from his grasp. Sheldon noticed her eyes were glossy with lacriminal fluid. "Sometimes, I wish, I just wish I'd never-" She didn't finish her statement. Penny disapeared into the apartment, slamming the door on his protests.

Sheldon didn't understand. He looked from Penny's closed door to his and back again. What was she going to say? After a going through the dictionary that was his mind, Sheldon decided Penny had wished to express her regreta of having met him. Something harsh and biting sunk its teeth into his stomach. From his navel it radiated out causing his heart rate to rise and his fingers to grow warm. The capilaries in his cheeks dialated.

Sheldon blushed with guilt.

With heavy breaths, his eyes continued to dart from door to door. He could not bear to return to his own apartment in his current state of emotional upset and Penny had made it quite obvious he was not to join her. So, Sheldon took a step in the only direction he could and began to descend the stairs.

Sheldon focussed on putting one foot in front of the other and kept his eyes glued to the green carpet. How could he be so foolish. Of course, Penny was trying at times; but, for her to think that of him. He had to admit, it hurt.

Four flights of stairs he walked. He walked and thought. His steps grew faster and faster as gravity allowed him to accelerate. His stride lengthened and he began to take the steps two at a time. When he reached the bottom, his breath came in ragged breaths.

Sheldon sat solemnly on the first step. He had hurt his friend. After a quiet moment of contemplation, he decided to try again and apologize. One step at a time he ascended the steps.

"You wan't to hear an interesting thing about stairs?" Had he just said that. In a moment of panic, Sheldon's adrenaline heightened senses registered something had changed.

He had started up the stairs alone. Now, Leonard was at his side. His superman shirt had been replaced by one featuring the Flash. Similarly, his dark olive chidos, were now plaid slacks.

"Not really," Leonard breathed.

Thankfully, Sheldon knew the fact, so he continued with it, "If the height of a single step is off by as little as two millimeters, most people will trip."

"I don't care." The pair turned and continued their walk up. "Two millimeters? That doesn't seem right."

"No, it's true. I did a series of experiments when I was twelve. My father broke his clavicle."

"Is that why they sent you to boarding school?"

"No, that was a result of my work with lasers." Strange, thought Sheldon, Leonard knew all about his past educational experiences and experiments. The strangest sense of déjà vu overcame him as he pulled his keys out of his pocket and turne to open their door. The sound of a radio pulled his attention across the hall. He abandoned his efforts with the lock and followed Leonard.

"New neighbor?"

They stood and watched as a young, blonde woman was handling articles she had pulled from a card board box. Sheldon instantly recognized the woman as Penny.

"Evidently." Curiouser and curiouser.

"Significant improvement over the old neighbor."

Penny had already been their neighbor. Oh, wait. Sheldon recalled Louise who had previously occupied apartment 4B, "Two-hundred pound transvestite with a skin condition? Yes, she is."

Penny turned towards them, her green eyes flashed and Sheldon fidgeted with the strap of his messenger bag. Would she still be angry with him? When he looked back up at her, her smile showed no hints of agression.

"Oh, hi!"

"Hi,"

"Hi,"

"Hi,"

"Hi?" Sureley she remebered them?

"We don't mean to interrupt." Said Leonard. "We live across the hall."

"Oh, that's nice."

"Oh, no, we don't live together. I mean we live together, but in separate, heterosexual bedrooms." But she knew that already, thought Sheldon to himself. She had been in both of their bedrooms, albeit much to Sheldon's dismay.

"Oh, okay well," she shut off the radio. "I guess I'm your new neighbor, Penny."

"Leonard," he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "Sheldon."

"Hi!" What had happened to the world? How could she not know their names?

"Hi,"

"Hi,"

"Hi,"

"Hi,"

A silent moment passed. Sheldon screamed for the answers. How could this be?

"Well," Leonard finally said, "Oh, Welcome to the building."

"Aw, thank you! Maybe we can have coffee sometime."

"Oh, great!"

"Great,"

"Great,"

"Great,"

Another awkward pause.

"Well, uh, bye."

"Bye!"

"Bye,"

Penny began to close the door.

"Bye!" Leonard yipped into the closing gap.

Neither Leonard nor Sheldon made a move back to their own apartment even though their indian food was growing cold. Sheldon tried to deduce what had transpired. He was back at the beginning. He and Leonard had just met Penny for the first time. Again?

**So? Crazy, huh? Oh, just you wait! Let me know what you think? **


	2. The Beta Continuum

**The Causality Alteration**

**Okay So here we are again, in the Beta Continuum, Except this chapter doesn't follow the Pilot exactly. Sorry, "NO SPOILERS" ( anybody?)**

"Aren't you going to invite her to join us for lunch?" Sheldon asked Leonard.

"What?" Oops.

"You're always saying that we need to widen our circle."

"Yes, but I'd never expect you to-What are you doing?"

"I'm asking her to eat lunch with us." What was it Leonard has said? "We'll have a nice meal and…chat."

"Chat? Sheldon, you never 'chat' offline! Besides, guys like us don't chat with girls like her." He lifted an arm towards her door and let it fall to his side.

"Oh, come on, Leonard, I'd expect you to be a bit more cavalier. It's not difficult, you just listen to what she has to say and reply appropriately."

"To what end?" But Leonard was too late; Sheldon extended a fist and rapped his knuckles against the door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Penny,"

Knock Knock.

"Oh, hey again, Sheldon," Sheldon couldn't hide his disappointment. Of course, she wouldn't know to wait for him to finish knocking.

"Hi, again,"

"Hi,"

"Hi,"

"Hi,"

"Hi," Sheldon stpped out of the way, allowing Leonard to lightly push past. Oh, the shorter man was entirely endebted to him now.

"Anyway, um," Leonard began, "we brought home Indian food." He held up the paper bag, elbows stiff, "And, um, I know that moving can be stressful. I find that, when I'm undergoing stress, that good food and company can have a comforting effect." Penny just stared at him. Not unlike, the first time, Sheldon remarked in his mind.

"Also," Leonard continued, "curry is a natural laxative, and I don't have to tell you that a clean colon is just one less thing to worry about."

Sheldon decied to intervene, "Leonard, I'm no expert here; but, I believe, in the context of a luncheon invitation, you might want to skip the reference to bowel movements."

"Oh, you're inviting me over to eat?"

"Yes," Sheldon leaned in to clarify. Good Lord, it was amazing Leonard had ever gotten her in the first place.

"That's so nice! I'd love to." Obviously. Penny, that is Beta Penny, would soon discover just how welcome she was in the physicists' domain.

"So what do you guys do for fun around here?" She led the way across the hall.

"Today we tried masturbating for money." Leonard spun around and glared at him. Penny just laughed as if it were a joke.

"Okay, well, make your self at home."

"That shouldn't be a problem," said Sheldon.

"Um, okay. Thank you."

"You're very welcome." Leonard turned to Sheldon who passed him a high-browed, haughty expression.

"Told you," Sheldon whispered to his friend. Leonard rolled his eyes.

"This looks like some serious stuff," Sheldon eyed Penny as she approached his board. "Leonard, did you do this?"

"Actually, that's my work." Sheldon rushed to the easel.

"Wow," her eyes scanned over the scribbled equations.

"Yeah, well, it's just some quantum mechanics," he waved his arm over the surface of the board, "with a little String Theory doodling around the edges. That part there," he pointed, "that's just a joke. It's a spoof of the Born-Oppenheimer Approximation."

"So, you're like one of those Beautiful Mind, genius guys." Penny had never taken this kind of interest in his work. He blushed and looked away from her green eyes.

"Yeah," He looked back up at her. They were the same green eyes he had seen so many times, but now they were somehow different. He found himself feeling lonesome, missing the familiarity of Alpha Penny's quirks. He grasped the corner of the board, as he discerned his reflexion in her pupils.

"This is really impressive."

"I have a board," Leonard said from across the room. "If you like boards, this is my board."

"Holy Smokes!" Penny's gaze was torn away from Sheldon and he felt the need to reclaim it.

"If by Holy Smokes, you mean a derivative restatement of the kind of stuff you can find scribbled on the wall of any men's room at MIT, sure." Sheldon put his hand in his pockets and waited for Leonard's rebuttal.

"What?"

"Come on, who hasn't seen this differential below, 'here I sit broken-hearted'?"

"At least I didn't have to invent twenty-six dimensions just to make the math come out."

"I didn't invent them, they're there."

"In what universe?"

"In all of them. That is the point."

"Uh, do you guys mind if I start?" Penny asked from her seat on the couch. She was in his spot. He definitely needed to find his way back into his proper continuum.

"Um, Penny, that's where I sit."

"Sit next to me." She smiled at him and Sheldon felt his resolve wavering. What had come over him?

"No, I sit there."

"What's the difference?"

"What's the difference?"

"Here we go,"

"In the winter, that seat is close enough to the radiator to remain warm, and yet not so close as to cause perspiration. In the summer, it is directly in the path of a crossbreeze created by opening windows there," he motioned, "and there. It faces the telvision at an angle that is neither direct, thus discouraging conversation, nor so far wide as to create a paralex distorion. I could go on, but I think I've made my point."

"Do you want me to move?"

"Well," he remebered their earlier skirmish.

"Just sit somewhere else," urged Leonard.

"Fine,"

…

Sheldon brought his marker to rest under his chin and checked the clock. It was two in the morning and he had not made any progress. With his left hand, he rubbed his tired eyes and listened for any signs of movement from Leonard's bedroom or the hallway. It was imperative that his roommate should not stumble across his work.

Sheldon sighed a long sigh. What work? All of his findings were inconclusive. He had before him, on the board, a timeline of events from first marching down the stairs to his present position. Everything had happened exactly as it had before. They had gone to Kurt's apartment for a television set only to return pantsless. Beta Wolowitz and Beta Koonthrappali had also regenerated into their previous selves.

Spread across the coffe table and counter were papers and dissertation about time, space and relativity. There were books too: books on psychology, hallucinations, and dreams. He had even delved into the world of science fiction, desperate for answers, but no number of Dr. Who episodes held the key. Despite extensive claculations and hypothesizing, all he'd managed to accomplish were messy hair and blood-shot eyes.

With resolve strengthened only by fatigued, Sheldon finally chose one possibility. This was all a dream, or hallucination.

The next step was the experiment. The physicist erased his board. Since he seemed to still posess his own free will, he would have to act beyond his normal spectrum of behavior. Startling himself back to the alpha continuum.

Sheldon yawned and plodded back into his bedroom. He climbed under his blankets and settled into a doze. Sleep did not come easily. Instead he found himself, reminiscing of all the happenings that had 'spiced up' his life since Penny's introduction. He remebered how she had sung "Soft Kitty" to him and rubbed Vicks on his congested chest. He remebered how he had come to her aid when she had slipped in the shower. He remebered their first Christmas together and smiled at the recollection of his gift. It was miserable to think that all of those years had never happened: all of the drunken forays and laundry nights. For the second time that night, Sheldon felt terribly alone.

…

**BAM! Parte dos! R and R! I love to hear from you.**


	3. The Entropy Exitation

**AN: FINALLY! I was able to get back to this and I now have the next chapter for you all.**

Sheldon stumbled into the kitchen. He was swaddled in his robe and his hair was messy from sleep.

"Hey, Buddy," greeted Leonard as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "You sure slept in." He took as sip as Sheldon headed to the fridge for orange juice.

"I know. What time is it?"

"Nine." It seems his late-night session had taken a much greater toll on his circadian rythyms than Sheldon would have preferred.

"That means I missed breakfast, Dr. Who, and my morning bowel movement. My day is entirely ruined." He shook his head.

"This is so weird," remarked Leonard, "You're never so…irregular. Are you okay?" His question sounded more as if he were asking his roomate if he had contracted highly contagious smallpox rather than actual concern.

"I surely hope so." Was he really okay? A myriad of stress inducing questions bombarded his mind. How did he get here? How did he get home? Why had any of this happened? Unfortunately, Sheldon had no answers. He hated this…this…not knowing. At least he had a plan.

Sheldon took a quick glance at the clock as he reached for the Big Bran from atop the refrigerator.

...

"I hope you asked for no peanuts?" Leonard handed Wolowitz his takeout box. He took a careful bite.

"Howard, we are all very, very aware of your allergy." A knock sounded at the door.

"It tastes like peanuts!"

"Howard!" Leonard went to the door. Upon opening it, he saw Penny dressed in her Cheesecake Factory uniform.

"Hey, Leonard," she greeted him warmly.

"Oh, hi, Penny."

"Am I interrupting?"

"No,"

"You're not swelling, Howard," came Sheldon's temperate voice from within the apartment.

"No, no, look at my fingers! They're like vienna sausages!" Howard's crazed voice swelled as Leonard watched Penny's face distort.

"Sounds like you have company,"

"They're not going anywhere. He closed the door.

…

Sheldon kept a close ear on the conversation outside his door. Leonard's voice was too mild to discern through the barrier, yet Penny's was audible from his seat on the couch. Even Howard forgot his swelling digits and listened in; though this was not acredit to his own Vulcan hearing,but ears expert in detecting a female presence. All dinner conversation stopped.

Finally, Wolowitz stood and approached the door, Cooper and Koonthrappali at his heels.

"Hel-Hello," said Penny.

In his head, Sheldon ticked off:1…2…and nodded his head when Howard easily expounded his compliment.

"Excuse me?"

"Haven't you ever been told how beautiful you are in flawless Russian?" He leaned against the doorframe and adjusted his eybrows, attempting to glare seductively at Penny. Sheldon shook his head. What would Bernadette have thought of this?

"No, I haven't,"

"Get used to it."

"Yeah, I probrably won't," The pang of hurt hit Sheldon as all of the memories of skirmishes between the fiesty blond and the small, over-bearing bachelor flooded his concious.

"Hey, Sheldon!" Hearing her call his name jerked him out of his trance.

"Hi," was all he could respond.

"Hi, Raj." As always, Raj did not speak. "Still not talking to me, huh?" Thank goodness some things never change.

"Don't take it personally. It's his pathology. He can't talk to women."

"He can't talk to attractive women. Or, in your case, a cheesecake-scented goddess," sighed Wolowitz.

"So," Leonard stopped him, "There's gonna be some furniture delivered?"

"Yeah, yeah," Penny shook her head. No doubt, dislodging the disturbing image of Howard and cheesecake. "If it get's here and I'm not here tomorrow, could you sign for it and have them put it in my apartment?"

"Yeah, no problem." Of course, scoffed Sheldon, Leonard would burn all of his comic books for that woman. However, at the moment, taking a flame to parts of his own collection would be worth finding himself back in his own time, chewing his Thai food, bickering with the lovely girl from across the hall.

"Great," Penny smiled, "Here's my spare key. Thank you.

…

"Okay," Leonard signed the for the package as Sheldon scrutinized the shipping label. "Her apartment's on the fourth floor but the elevator's broken, so you're gonna have to-Oh, you're just gonna be done? Okay, cool," the delivery man walked away as soon as Leonard handed him the clipboard. "Thanks,"

"We'll just bring it up ourselves," offered Sheldon. He had been here before and knew how this scene would play out.

"What?"

"Why not? Though we may not have a dolly, or lifting belts or any measurable upper body strength, we are physicists. We don't need strength. We are the intellectual descendants of Archimedes. And one great physicist once said, 'Give me a fulcrum and a lever and I can move the Earth,'." Of course, that physicist had been the very same Leonard Hofstadter.

"Yeah, It's just a matter of-" agreed Leonard as he reached for the box. Upon applying force, however, the cardboard monstrosity began to fall on his back. "I don't have this. I don't have this. I do NOT have this!"

Sheldon rushed to support the box. Archimedes would be so proud. They both stood back a moment and stared at the box. Equations running through their heads.

"Do you have any ideas?" asked the shorter man once the box had been stablilized.

"Yes," Sheldon recalled how they had accomplished this same task all those years ago. "Think Mechanical Advantage: simple machines." He shoved his hands in his pockets and put on a show of contemplation at the base of the green-carpeted stairs.

"Okay," said Leonard, finally understanding, "Help me drag it over here and lay it down over the steps." Sheldon shook his head as his friend turned away. Ph.D. indeed.

"Easy," they began to lower the corrugated rectangle.

"Easy,"

THUD!

"Okay," Sheldon looked across the box at Sheldon. "Now we've got an inclined plane. The force required to lift is reduced by the sine of the angle of the stairs-call it thirty degrees," he waved an arm up the stairwell, "so about half." Leonard smiled triumphantly.

"Exactly half," corrected Sheldon.

"Exactly half," was mocked back at him. Good grief, simple trigonometry, Leonard, simple trigonometry.

"Now, let's push." Together they hunched over and bore down on the package. "Okay. See? It's moving. This is easy." The box slowly began to slide up the stairs. "It's all in the math."

"What's your formula for the corner?"

"What?" Leonard looked up. "Huh? Okay," he trotted on all fours up to the first landing. "Ahh, okay, yeah, no problem. Just come up here, help me pull and turn."

Sheldon abandoned his station at the foot of the box, allowing it to slide back down into the lobby.

"Ah, gravity, thou art a heartless bitch."

…

"Watch your fingers," Sheldon warned, slowly lowering the box to the floor of Penny's apartment, "Watch your fingers,"

"Yeah," Leonard set his edge down.

"OH GOD, MY FINGERS!" Sheldon immediately raised the bruising digits to his mouth.

"You okay?" a hunched-over Leonard struggled for breath.

"No, her-Great Caeser's ghost, look at this place!" Sheldon looked around the apartment. Even after five years, Penny's apartment had never been as messy as it was that day. Sheldon took a step forward.

"So, Penny's a little messy."

"A little Messy! The man who brought the set of complex numbers was a little messy. This is chaos! Excuse me, explain to me an organizational system in which a tray of flatware on a couch is valid." He held the blue plastic organizer up for Leonard to see. Sheldon secretly scoffed at calling it an 'organizer'. "And I'm just inferring that this is a couch because the evidence suggests that the coffee table is having a tiny garage sale."

Leonard just picked up a scented candle from Penny's counter. "Did it ever occur to you that not everyone has the compulsive need to sort, organize, and label the entire world around them?"

After a pause, Sheldon replied sarcastically over his shulder and with his hands on his hips "No."

"Well, they don't," Leonard exchanged the candle for a book. He inspected the cover. "Hard as it may be for you to believe, most people don't sort their breakfast cereal numerically by fiber content."

"Excuse me, but I think we both found that helpful at times," Sheldon pointed a finger at Leonard. With his knowledge of the future, Sheldon knew his domestic logistics would never fail to work wonders on the bowels.

"Come on," Leonard headed for the door.

"Hang on,"

"What are you doing?"

"Straightening up," Sheldon picked another magazine off of the back of Penny's couch. He moved to stack them on the kitchen counter.

"Sheldon, this is not your home."

"This is not anyone's home! This is a swirling vortex of entropy!" His eyes grew wide and his movements, crazed.

"When the transvestite lived here, you didn't care about how he kept the place," argued Leonard.

"Because it was immaculate," countered Sheldon, "I mean, you open that man's closet," Sheldon held his hands in the air and moved them one step at a time to the right, "it was left to right: evening gowns, cocktail dresses, then his police uniforms." He let his hands fall to his sides and turned back to the clothing on the counter. Oh, Penny, why?

"What were you doing in his closet?"

Sheldon lifted a bright-colored hoodie, "I helped him run some cable for a webcam."  
"Hey, guys," Penny strode through the door.

"Oh, hey, Penny!" Leonard motioned to the box of furniture on the floor. "This just arrived. We just brought this up. Just now,"

"Great! Ooh, was it hard getting it up the stairs."

"Pfshhh," Sheldon rolled his eyes.

"No," Leonard answered her.

"No?"

"Noaaw," Leonard glared at Sheldon.

His tell friend was taken aback and repeated, "Noaaw." Sheldon debated spilling the beans to Leonard that he would infact have to opportunity to date Penny, if only to stop his tenacious peacocking.

"Yeah, well we'll get out of your hair."

"Okay, great, thank you, again." As Leonard passed, Penny threw her jacket into the tempest that occupied her couch. Sheldon bit his lip and pushed his hands into his pockets.

"Penny," she looked up at him, "I just want you to know that you don't have to live like this. I'm here for you."

Penny stared up at him, confused, before turning to look past his shoulder at Leonard. "What's he talking about?"

"It's a joke," lied Leonard.

"I don't get it."

"Yeah, he didn't tell it right." Leonard grabbed Sheldon by the elbow and pulled him out of the apartment

"Sheldon, what the heck was that?" demanded Leonard when they were back in the apartment.

"Oh, Leonard, you can't be serious?" Sheldon shook his head and headed to his room. If only Leonard knew what he was getting himself into…

…

It was two-thirteen in the morning when Sheldon finally sat up in bed. For hours he had tossed and turned thinking about Penny's apartment. He could not sleep knowing that just outside his bedroom was the living room, and just outside the living room was the hallway, and immediately adjacent to that hallway was…THAT! He stood and tightened the sash of his robe whilst slipping into his slippers. He had done it before, so it couldn't hurt to do it again.

Sheldon was just about to grab hold of the doorknob when he stopped to think. Before, he had cleaned Penny's apartment. Initially, it had seemed to be a bad choice for Leonard and Penny's relationship. However, upon a second thought, Sheldon realized that his entering the apartment had been a defining moment in the alpha continuum. It had strengthened the neighborly bond between the three of them and sparked the friendship that Sheldon now yearned for. He pulled his hand away and stepped back from the door.

This was just what he needed. All week he had been searching for some sort of action that would be radical enough to end this travesty and reinstate the alpha continuum. Yes, he could have chosen a different entrée at Soup Plantation, but he was not willing to risk the possibly disastrous side-effects towards his digestive regularity. Of course, thought Sheldon.

He would not clean Penny's apartment tonight. Instead he slipped back beneath his blankets and fell into a light, but hopeful, sleep.


	4. The Dickensian Hypothesis

When the first rays of morning sun slid through his windows, Sheldon let his eyes open. He didn't dare move out of fear that his plan had not worked, that Penny still would not know him.

Gingerly, he sat up. He was cautious, as if every crease in his blue comforter would cause some unexpected wrinkle in time. Sheldon stood and walked to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Sheldon." Leonard greeted his roommate over the rim of his coffee mug. "You're up late again."

Sheldon peered at the newspaper on the counter. He saw a two and a zero, but the rest was hidden by one of Leonard's papers. Sheldon sighed and looked to the kitchen. If he didn't even know what the date was, how could he eat breakfast? His eyes stared longingly at the cereal above the refridgerator as his stomach growled.

"Aren't you going to eat breakfast?" asked Leonard.

"Oh, yes," Sheldon tried to hide his emotional upset. "I just wish to revel for a moment in the glory of the morning." He took a deep breath of air, distracting Leonard from his elbow, which Sheldon used to uncover the date a bit more. He saw another zero and was immediately let down. "Alright," he stormed into the kitchen with a sigh, "definitely Big Bran today."

…

Over the next few days, Sheldon retreated into his thoughts. Nothing in the realm of physics could explain such a radical paradigm shift. The causality of the universe was forever altered. And he was beginning to fear he would never get home.

In the quiet peace of his office, Sheldon slumped against his whiteboard.

"A yellow-brick road with an unsounded end," Sheldon whispered as he leaned his forehead on his clenched fist.

"Yellow-brick road?"

"RAJ!" Sheldon zipped up and began to smear away his work.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Raj darted over to the board.

"Raj, as your superior, I order you to step back."

"Why, you got a secret?" Raj laughed. He tried to slip under Sheldon's arm and stop him from erasing.

"No!" Sheldon dropped his elbow, stopping Raj's advance, but Raj had already managed to grab the eraser. Sheldon looked down at his grimy hands. Oh, no. "Raj, please, step back." He gave one final plea.

"November, two-thousand-nine: Penny dislocates shoulder due to lack of adhesive ducks, discovery of soup tattoo on right buttock," Raj read the timeline with wide eyes.

"Penny? Didn't she just move in last week?" Sheldon nodded. Raj was back to reading the list. "There's a lot smudged here." Raj squinted at the board, "May, two-thousand-twelve: Penny rejects Leonard's proposal; Howard Wolowitz leaves for International Space Station, mairrage to Bernadette Rostenkowski." It was then Raj turned to stare at Sheldon, his jaw wider than the maw of the sarlacc. "Who's Bernadette?" he asked.

"You haven't met her yet-please, Raj!"

"Sheldon, what is this?"

"It's a list of past events."

"Sheldon, none of this has happened yet!" Raj pointed at the board. "Have you lost your mind?"

"No, no, no," Sheldon approached hos board and adopted his pysicist's visage. It was too late to hide this from Raj. The man was only an astrophysicist and could come to the wrong conclusions. At the very least he would tell Wolowitz of Sheldon's strange notions. Word would circulate to Leonard. And what would occur when things start coming true? It would be best, Sheldon decided, to keep Raj informed and the situation under control.

"These are things that had happened, in another time, an alpha continuum, if you will. Somehow, I have found my self back at, what I have come to call, the origin of these continua, point zero-zero." He circled the first date on the board. "Since that moment, everything has transpired just as it did before. The beta continuum was functioning like a reset." Sheldon began to refil the erased parts of his flow-chart. "That was until last night. I took a course of action other than was what predestined in the alpha continuum and changed history. Thanks to my eidetic memory, I can remember even the slightest details of my past or, in this case, my future. Thus, today I should be wearing a Green Lantern t-shirt. Alas, I am not." He motioned to the blue cotton of his current shirt. "Welcome, my friend, to the gamma continuum." He spun and looked at the other scientist, prepared to tackle him, despite what little muscle he had, should Raj make a dash for the door.

"Okay," Raj looked as if the contents of any algorithm, not time travel, were written before him, "First question: Are you high?"

Sheldon shook his head. "Focus, Koonthrappali."

"I'm sorry, Sheldon, just the idea that you are some time-traveler is a little hard to wrap my head around."

"You need to believe me. I have proof."

"Proof?" Raj sat forward in his chair.

"Yes, you will reveal in the years to come your bellydancing pastime." Sheldon figured the factoid to be embarassing enough to convince Raj.

"That's not hard to figure out. I'm an Indian dude with a nice body. Of course I'd love to flaunt it." He gave his shoulders a shake.

"I know that your research predicting composition of trans-Neptunian objects will run into a dead-end." Sheldon spat out and Raj stopped mid-dance.

"No way! It's a solo project and I'm the only one who could see the problems in the calculations, and they just started popping up a few days ago."

"Raj," Sheldon could see he had convinced his friend, "you can tell noone of this."

"Not even Howard?"

"Not even Howard."

Sheldon held his breath as Raj pondered for a moment. "So, tell me more about the future me. Can he talk to women?"

"Unfortunately for you, no, but, the events of the future have already been rehabilitated. I don't know the full extent of my actions."

…

"Maybe," Raj offered, "it's like a second chance."

"What?" Sheldon had taken the rest of the day with Raj to explain the entire story. After half a pack of Red Vines, they got to tossing around ideas.

"Well, In Seventeen Again, Zac Efron goes back in time to realize what he thought he wanted wasn't what he thought he wanted." Raj smiled triumphantly.

"Raj, this is not some chick flick romantic comedy! This is serious meddling with the universe!"

"In Star Trek Four, they traveled back in time to save George and Gracie."

Sheldon stared at him in disbelief, "George and Gracie," he said with a matter-of-fact and slightly pompous attitude, "were whales."

"So? What difference does it make?"

"I can see where you're going. It's positively dickensian, but this there's no ghosts." And the last person Sheldon wished to be likened to was Ebenezer Scrooge.

"You've got to figure it out yourself. Time travel happens for a reason." Raj stood and began to chew on a fresh Red Vine out of the package. "You've got to fix something, Sheldon. This is your second chance."


	5. The Laundry Night Revelation

Sheldon was not an emotional man, but as he walked down the stairs to the laundry room, he could not help but notice he was putting a few extra newtons of force into each step. Were the effects any more obvious, he would have been stomping.

He shook his head and took a moment to just breathe before stepping through the doorway. He hadn't been able to get what Raj had said out of his head. This was his second chance. His second chance for what?

"Hey, Sheldon!" A bright voice chirped as Penny popped around his elbow.

"Hello, Penny." Sheldon picked up his head and walked to the washer. It felt so strange to say her name. It was if this wasn't actually Penny, as if she were some soulless cyborg. Lively Penny seemed so far away, so distant. His Penny was back in another time.

"I'm sorry I haven't seen much of you lately," Penny apologized throwing all of her laundry into one machine. "I've just been working a lot. The apartment is great, but with great apartments come great rents." She giggled at her Spiderman pun as she shook in far too much soap. Sheldon just stared at the shirt he held in his hand. For some reason, he could not let go.

"Sheldon?" Penny titled her head, "Are you alright?"

"Of course," he cleared his throat and slammed the lid on the machine, ripping the dial to the correct setting. He felt horrible. Raj was right, Sheldon had hurt Penny in the alpha continuum. And the idea that he would hurt her in the beta future was hard to handle. He hated to be predestined for failure.

He turned his head and looked at Penny. Her eyes sparkled and Sheldon thought he glimpsed a thread of recognition in her sea-green irises. The pink of her lips smiled that same familiar smile. If he tried hard enough, he could almost pretend…

"I'm fine," he told her, actually meaning it.

"Good," she hiked her basket on her hip and turned to leave.

"Wait, Penny," he called to her. Hed din't want her to leave. He didn't want her to go on a date with some gargantuan guy and leave him in this laundry room. He didn't want her to work an extra shift just so she could be tired and hidden away from him. He didn't want her to disappear because he missed her. Even if this wasn't the real Penny, he had the closest replica on Earth.

"Yeah?" Sheldon had to scramble for an excuse.

"It's unwise to leave your clothes unattended."

"Oh, well, are you going to stay?"

"I always do."

"Alright," she walked back into the room, "As long as I have company, I guess I could wait." She set down her basket and jumped onto the top of an unused dryer.

Sheldon was at a loss. He didn't know what to say.

"I always do my laundry on Saturdays," he said.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, at eight-fifteen, every week."

"That's" Penny swung her legs back and forth, "precise."

Penny pursed her lips and Sheldon could think of nothing else to comment on.

"How was your day, Sheldon?" Penny asked, "I've lived across from you for nearly two weeks and still know almost nothing about you." Sheldon smiled sadly and told her.

…

"You know," Penny said as she leaned down to scoop clothes out of the dryer and transfer them to her basket, "I don't know why, but I feel like I know you. Like I've known you for a long time,"

She stood and Sheldon met her eyes.

"But that's impossible," Sheldon tried to repress his flickering hope that soon he would be out of Oz and back in the technicolor world of the alpha continuum.

"I know, I know, but you're just so…" Penny thought for a moment, mulling her words, torturing Sheldon with every moment, "easy to be with."

Sheldon scoffed, "Leonard doesn't think so." This new attitude contrasted so greatly with the old Penny's idiosyncrasies. *_I just wish I'd never…*_ her words echoed in his mind, allowing the hurt and shame to surface. He needed for things to be alright again.

"I can understand that. Like you're so smart and that can be…frustraing, and you can be a real whack-a-doodle," she hooked her thumbs in her belt loops, "but you don't mean it. On the inside, maybe deep down, you're just a sweet heart." She smiled up at him and Sheldon felt his insides melt. He hid his blush by focussing on finding a match for the sock he was holding.

"Thank you," He shoved the words out of his mouth.

"You're welcome, Sweetie." She hefted her laundry and stepped towards him. "It's a good thing I stayed with my laundry. It was nice to talk." She stood on her tiptoes and placed her lips to his cheek. While she walked out of the ddor, she called back to him, "I'm glad I got the chance to meet you."

**AN: sorry this chapter is so short, but there's no real way to elongate it. Stay tuned next chapter will be up shortly. **


	6. The Causality Alteration

**AN: The last three chapters are really short. But I'm cutting them off where I am because of the suspense factor. Enjoy!**

Sheldon slowly allowed his eyes to open. Light streamed back in through his eyelashes. It was harsh, flourescent. He was in the laundry room. But when was he?

"PENNY!" Sheldon dropped his socks and ran after her, taking the stairs two at a time. "PENNY! PENNY!"

"Sheldon? What is it?" Sheldon bounded up the last flight of stairs, heading straight for Penny. "SHELDON!" Penny was enveloped in his arms.

"Penny, oh Penny, please?"

"What? Please, what?" Sheldon could have cried.

"Tell me that it's you." He whispered into her ear, as he clutched himself to her, inhaling the vanilla scent of her. He shut his eyes, hoping that when he opened them this would just be nightmare.

"It's me, Sheldon. It's always been me."

No it hasn't, Sheldon thought to himself. But he didn't tell her that. Instead, he clung to her.

"Sheldon?" No! Sheldon was fed up and tired of this. He just wanted to go home. He wanted to click his heels together, whisper some incantation and everything would be all right. "Sheldon! Holy crap on a cracker!"

Sheldon pried himself off of the petite woman.

"I'm sorry," He glued his eyes to the floor where he saw the laundry basket. It wasn't her. "I acted rashly."

"Umm," Penny strightened herself and looked over Sheldon's shoulder, "Oh, hi, Leonard." Penny laughed nervously. It was obvious Sheldon had startled her. Leonard stared at the pair of them. Penny still loosely held in Sheldon's arms.

"Hey, Penny. Sheldon, can I speak to you for a moment."

"Leonard! How long…what are you…about…"

"Yeah," Penny spoke up, "I was just…gonna go…" And sheldon watched her withdraw into the apartment.

"Okay, Leonard." He followed the shorter man, feeling utterly dejected.

"Sheldon, what the hell is going on?" Leonard demanded.

"I don't know what you mean."

"How is that even poisble? You have an IQ of one-eighty-seven, yet you can't see what's happening?"

Leonard's words stung as his tone bit into Sheldon, but Sheldon barely hear them. His face twitched in the agony of not knowing. Penny was once again glad that they had met, but here was, still trapped, still utterly alone.

"Sheldon, are you even listening." And now, Leonard was furious. "Will you explain to me why you and Penny were…you know…hugging?" Leonard was exasperated and Sheldon finally understood.

"You think I am interested in having coitus with Penny?"

"Maybe not coitus, no, but whatever it is you do on your homeworld." Brows knitted beneath heavy glasses. "How could you, Sheldon."

"I'm sorry, Leonard, but there's been a mistake."

"Obviously!"

And it was, obvious. Sheldon's concious was smacked with an epiphany. Could it… He took a brief moment to think.

_*I wish I'd never…"_

Never what?

_ *I wish I'd never…*_

What had changed between Penny and Sheldon that had not transpired in the beta continuum but had in the alpha continuum? It was all clear to him now.

"I'm sorry, Leonard." Sheldon looked down at Leonard and hoped, if he ever knew, that he would understand and not be angry.

Sheldon took off running. He bolted out of the door and back down those winding, torturous, green, horribly carpeted, BLASTED STAIRS! He jumped onto landings, pushed against the wall for support, and prayed to all of the deities that he did not break an ankle. Sheldon had unraveled the mystery and now would be a horrible time to be apprehended.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Sheldon took a much needed breath. He inhaled, exhaled, then inhaled once again for good measure. The puzzle had nothing to do with Penny. It was for him. It was his chance to dive through the looking glass and see what was there, and always had been, infront of him the whole time. Things had changed during the past five years. Sheldon Cooper had changed. With a new heart, he took the first step up the stairs.


	7. The Yellow Brick Road Culmination

**AN: Last chapter! This one was so hard to keep straight. Never will I write a time travel story again. WAAAY to complicated. **

Sheldon reached the top of the stairs and looked into the hallway. Everything was silent. Everything was the same. But then again, it had always been the same. Tentatively, he took a step and stood just outside of 4B, Penny's apartment.

_Knock. Knock. Knock_

_ "_Penny?" He whispered through the door.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Penny," He spoke a bit louder, wishing she would open up.

_Knock. Knock. Knock_.

"Penny," Still there was no answer.

No, it wasn't supposed to be this way. She needed to open the door. Sheldon put his hands in his pockets and began to pace and think.

He could walk away and wait for Penny to could go get a screwdriver from his apartment, but that would mean facing the rest of his freidns and potentially blowing the operation. Sheldon absentmindedly gripped the keys withing his pocket. As his thumb traced the edges of his own key he noticed something was different. Pulling out the whole chain he observed a second key. The ridges varied slightly from his, but the head was the same. He looked back at Penny's door. It was her spare key.

Leonard had delegated the task of opening Penny's door when they had delivered furniture to him and Penny had never collected her key. He walked to the door and gently took hold on the knob. Did this mean he was still in the beta continuum? He slid the key into the hole and heard the resonating click as the tumblers unlocked the door.

"Penny?" Sheldon called once again. "Penny?"

"Sheldon?" Penny appeared from with her bedroom. It was her. It was his , he missed her. Her bouncy blonde curls, her vibrant green eyes, everything was as it should be. Well, except her eyes. They were red, swollen, and tear-stained. "What are you…How did you?"

"You didn't finish your sentence."

"So you're back to correct my grammar?" She scowled at him, but she was wrong.

"No, Penny, I've changed," His eyes pleaded for her to understand.

"Changed? Ten minutes ago I was an invasive species!"

"Penny, I'm sorry I hurt you. I wasn't aware."

"And you think that after ten minutes I'm supposed to believe," she began to rant, but stopped mid sentence, "aware?"

"Please, Penny. I need to know: what were you about to say?" He looked down at her and searched her green eyes for what he already knew to be the truth. "I've taken you for granted and even insulted you, but, I have realized what you are to me."

She held her head at an angle, he continued. "I…I…need…you, Penny."

Penny smiled up at him then took his hand. She pulled him closer and Sheldon could feel his heart racing in his ears. He let his head drop slightly as she came up to him and their lips met. It was a quick kiss for as soon as they broke apart, Penny clung to Sheldon's waist and he, to her. Sheldon never wanted to release Penny out of fear that time would once again unruavel.

"Fallen for you," she whispered into his chest.

"What?" He pulled her back and encountered her gaze.

"I was going to say that I wish I'd never fallen for you."

"Perhaps, for the sanity of all parties involved, it is best if we allow the past to remain in the past."

**So, how was it? Did you see it coming? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Let me know. I'm interested to see how well I pulled off the "Sixth Sense" effect. **


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